Pleasantly Vexed With Erik Satie

In the Fall 2014issue of Utne Reader, I shared my thoughts on daydreaming in a column titled “The Lost Art of Doing Nothing.” Three years later, it’s still one of the more popular posts we add to our Facebook page, and I like to think it’s because more people are recognizing the benefits of setting their smart phones aside on a regular basis and allowing their mind to wander.

Since then, I’ve begun meditating, floating in a sensory-deprivation tank, and participating in other activities where the sole purpose is to simply be aware of — but not attached to — the moment at hand. To that end, I was very excited to discover on the morning of May 5 that a rare performance of Erik Satie’s fascinating piano piece Vexations was taking place that day at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City.

For those not familiar with the piece, it’s a very short but peculiar tune that Satie wrote in 1893 with no apparent intention of having it performed. Featuring an unresolved melody and a score note by Satie suggesting the piece be repeated 840 times “very slowly,” it’s not surprising that it took the likes of American composer John Cage and his avant-garde compatriots to finally give Vexations its first public performance in 1963. With a rotation of 12 pianists, Cage and company completed the 840 repetitions of the piece in 20 hours and effectively sparked a rite of passage for future generations of contemporary classical pianists. The longest non-stop solo performance of the piece was 35 hours(!) by Nicolas Horvath in 2012.

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In the Kemper performance, pianist Michael Kirkendoll performed the piece for 12 hours straight while playing inside contemporary artist Rashid Johnson’s magnificent installation piece Antoine’s Organ. I had the pleasure of experiencing 35 minutes of the performance, and I’m still gleaning fascinating insight from what I witnessed (see video below).

For some, the unnerving quality of the tune is enough to drive them mad. A 2013 article in The New Yorker cited the experience of Australian pianist Peter Evans, who quit playing the piece after 595 repetitions in 1970 when he was overcome by evil thoughts and hallucinations. Kirkendoll fared much better, and by all accounts so did many others who spent some time meditating in the space that day, myself included. For me, the unresolved nature of the melody makes it difficult to memorize, and the nuances of each repetition are different enough to keep the piece from becoming tedious. Instead, the ambient quality of the music serves as the ideal soundtrack for oscillating between meditation and daydreaming. I left the space relaxed and with more sensory awareness, much as I do after a floating session.

Of course, there are many who wonder why anyone would want to put themselves through such an experience — as a performer or a listener. For a piece that’s considered the Mt. Everest of solo piano pieces, though, the answer is simple: “Because it’s there.”